Yesterday’s Swedish court ruling sentencing the Pirate Bay defendants to a year in prison caused membership in Sweden’s Pirate Party to swell, attracting 3,000 members in seven hours. Its membership now sits at around 18,000, which makes it a respectable size in Swedish politics.

The tough sentence on Pirate Bay clearly shows that Piratpartiet needed, “says Rick Falk Vinge, party for Piratpartiet. We needed to secure the future knowledge society.We needed to protect the free and open society, and we needed to assure that the future of culture in people’s hands instead of in the hands of blodtöstiga media companies who want to bring culture lovers in prison.